


Part of a Broken Whole

by Runic



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runic/pseuds/Runic
Summary: In which Vex learns something of her heart.





	Part of a Broken Whole

Note: Inspired by [@princessamericachavez](https://tmblr.co/mQuIxK0iAZbOKfo4l-r9Q-w)  ‘s post [here](http://princessamericachavez.tumblr.com/post/168518597593/lets-be-sad-aka-vex-is-missing-her-other-half-and). Direct quotes were taken with her permission. Yes, I did cry a lot while writing this as I had to keep reading the post, so please forgive any mistakes. I was editing through tears. (And oh wow, has it been a long time since I’ve written fic.)

 

 

“VEX!” Keyleth felt the name of her friend  **-her sister-**  torn from her throat as the shock of fear rose from her very core. Beside her, Percy’s head snapped up, but Keyleth was already changing, the powerful wings of her giant eagle form taking her into the sky.

She watched in agony as Vex fell, knowing that she could not arrive in time, but striving onward all the same. Keyleth had a sickening sense of deja vu as she watched Vex fall, time seeming to slow to make the agony draw on longer. The hard packed earth of the plain was replaced with rocks and waves, closing in too fast to do anything before the pain hit.

Keyleth’s half-elven feet hit the ground a second too late next to Vex’s prone form, the sickening thud her friend’s body had made echoing in her ears. Behind her, Percy screamed his wife’s name. Pike’s armor was clanking loudly as she ran toward Keyleth and Vex. There was a gunshot, a howl of rage, a strained song, as the battle continued behind her, the rest of her family fighting the creature that had knocked their companion out of the sky.

But right now, Keyleth’s world consisted only of Vex; Vex who was not breathing despite the continuous healing magic Keyleth was pouring into her still form. “Please, please, don’t you leave me too.”

/

Vex heard none of it at that moment. She was surrounded by a familiar darkness. There was a brief thought that she should feel fear, but there was only peace, just as there had been every time before.

It was only a moment  **-an eternity-**  when the silence was broken by the soft rustle of raven wings. Vex spun around, her heart swelling with joy, because there he was, there was the other half of her heart whom she had missed so desperately the last year and a half.

Vax’s face was a mask of dark fury as his wings folded in behind him, every ounce of that fury directed at her. Vex did not care. She ran forward the short distance, throwing her arms around her other half. “I’ve missed you so much,” she whispered, tears already tracing a path down her cheeks.

The tension flowed from Vax’s body after a moment, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a second  **-too short moment-**  before pressing against Vex’s shoulders and moving her back just enough so she was forced to look him in the eye. “What do you think you’re doing, Stubby?”

“Hugging my brother,” Vex snapped back, although the smile still had yet to leave her lips. “I’ve missed you,” she repeated. “But we’re together again now.”

Any remaining fury vanished from Vax’s gaze, replaced with sorrow and pity. “Not for long, Stubby. Just give them a moment and they will bring you back.” His voice was firm and decisive.

Now it was Vex who was furious. “And what if I don’t want to go back? What if I don’t want to be part of a broken half anymore?” Her voice was harsh, but there was a barely concealed hint of desperation to it. It was Vax she was talking to, and he could see it all plain as day. “Who could bring me back if the one who is my heart is here with me right now?”

Vax’s hands reached up and cupped his sister’s cheeks. “You know I love you, I always will. But even if you lost a half, you gained five more long ago, and added a sixth recently.” Vax smiled and swelled with pride for his sister. “She is beautiful.”

A crushing wave of guilt washed over Vex, the little girl who had for so long missed her mother. How could she do the same to the babe now in Whitestone who shared her mother’s name and Percy’s eyes? She couldn’t, not when she had a choice in the matter.

“And,” Vax continued, his voice the soft comfort he used only with her, “you’ll always be whole because I’m always with you too. I made you promise, didn’t I?”

“You broke it!” Vex half shouted back, knowing it wasn’t true even as she said it.

“Never.” Vax kissed her forehead, pressing something into her hand. “They’re calling you, Stubby. You’ve got to go back now.”

“I love you,” she tried to say even as Pike’s voice drowned him out, Percy and Keyleth’s pleading joining the cleric’s.

Vax only smiled, the raven wings spreading wide as he took flight.

/

She was in Percy’s arms when she came to, Pike’s face close to her’s and still lit with the light of the ritual. Vex blinked slowly, seeing the battlefield she had fallen onto so harshly, knowing that it had been less than a minute since her death. It felt like a forever  **-no time at all-**.

Percy’s sigh of relief, the gentle squeeze around her shoulders as he hugged her just a little closer, softened the sorrow in her heart. Her friends  **-her family-**   ** _-the other pieces of her heart-_**  smiled down at her, relief clear across all their faces. Keyleth choked back a soft sob, leaning into Percy’s shoulder as her sorrow turned to joy.

Vex tilted her head back, kissing the bottom of Percy’s chin. “Can we go home now?” she asked, bone weary and completely exhausted from the process of the resurrection. She was grateful for Percy and Keyleth’s help as they got her to her feet. She swayed dangerously, but Grog was already scooping her up in his strong arms before she could lose her balance completely.

“Yeah,” Keyleth answered, and turned away to prepare the spell that would take them back to Whitestone.

With a rush through the portal and a familiar stomach lurch, they were home. Vex reached out for Keyleth as the rest of the party walked passed the Sun Tree. “Hey, I think this is for you.” Vex pressed her hand into Keyleth’s, the same hand that Vax had held not too long ago using the exact same gesture.

Keyleth took a deep breath, her eyes welling up with tears again. She blinked down at the snowdrop flower Vex had given her, before silently nodding  **-saying absolutely everything-**  to Vex.

Vex felt her head bob in response, before lightly slapping Grog’s arm and pointing to her estate. “Onward, Grog.”

Grog obeyed, cheerfully joking with her along the way, Percy in step beside them. She felt herself being tucked into bed, felt Percy’s lips brush against hers. She stayed awake just long enough to realize the bed was dipping slightly under Percy’s weight as he joined her, and heard him speaking softly to their daughter as Elaina Johanna de Rolo cooed back at her father.

Vex knew they would be there when she eventually awoke. She knew she would get the scolding of a lifetime, not just from her husband, but from the rest of her family as well, and she would love every minute of it. She would always miss her brother, but for now, her heart was here  **-her heart was whole-** , and she was glad to stay.


End file.
